Putting some distance between themselves and the confrontation, which may take a while, Nathan and Phil move to help carryin in the wounded, Alec following behind Nathan and adding his help, as well.
From here, you can see the priestesses of Liene have their hands full, and you see that their vassals are pretty competent in first aid, as well. The priestess who tended Liandral doesn't wait long for an answer to her question, shaking her head and jogging towards the wounded, lifting her robes with one hand to run better.
The wounded from outside have been carried in, but those on the battlements who were struck by the Jotun's stones and lived still need to be carried down.
Incidentally, you can see the three stones lying in the courtyard, two to the west, one to the east.
Dracos first makes a quick check of the stones to see if there are any who, by some chance, are under them and alive. Not really expecting such a soul, if he doesn't see one he heads up to help on the battlements, remaining silent for the moment with his thoughts.
Dracos
There is no one beneath any of the stones that you can see. Once you head up to the battlements, you find yourself jogging amid a stream of vassals bearing stretchers, who look surprised to see you there.
Dracos lends a hand where he can, helping carry bodies down, not really caring at the moment about the whole improprietry of it.
Dracos
The medics are more than willing to let you (and Nathan, and Alec) carry stretchers down to the priestesses below. While you're doing this, you also manage to take a pretty good count of the wounded.
As thickly crowded as everyone on the battlements was, there were few wounded, and more casualties than anything else. Nearly two hundred archers are dead, and another fifty wounded ... you're not certain how well they can be healed by the priestesses, yet.
Of the footsoldiers, only a dozen were slain, and twice that wounded from the Jotun's rocks.
Dracos shakes his head after they finish, more speaking to himself then any listener as he surveys from the side the medic tents/building. "Messy business, but it could've been a good deal worse. Problem is they'll be able to do that every night."
Dracos
"Alec, go find Bjorn and ask him to drop by my tent when he's free. I have some ideas I need his help on. Rez, I want to talk to you privately in a bit, so come on."
Dracos waited for Rez to nod in agreement and Alec to depart, and heads off with Rez before going back to the storm-rider camp and overseeing how the morale is there and how the storm-riders are doing.
Dracos
Two hundred defenders dead, and many wounded. To the Storm-riders, these are the lightest casualties they've faced this entire war. Pretty much everyone's in high spirits, except for Lord Rogers and some of his men, who seem mellow, but a little dissapointed.
Dracos takes a moment to swing by Lord Rogers tent. "Something on your mind, Lord Rogers? Seems a bit dour around these parts."
Dracos
"Eh," he grunts. "The battle were efficient, but I barely 'ad a chance ta sink me axe into an orc when 'e melted away. Tomorrow, then!"
Dracos laughs. "Aye. Takes all the fun out of it, it does."
Dracos
Lord Rogers grins at that. "Tomorrow," he says again. "Until then, ye rest well."
"Ye too. If ye aren't right near by, I expect to know where you are by the screams of the enemies who can't flee your axe in time." Dracos smiles, turning and starting off towards his own tent.
Dracos
Rez hums as they walk away.
"Well, nice to know we've all got the right attitude . . ."
"Yeah, Yeah... Got some ideas. And I think we should stick away from the whole mess in front for now."
Dracos heads into his tent assuming no interruptions, closing the cover behind him and Rez and sitting down.
Dracos
"We're going to have to bail him out of there. Hopefully Bjorn will be able to convince them straight, otherwise we may have to apply diplomatic pressure."
"Patience. Bjorn's in a much better position at the moment to do it, and if we stick our heads in it'll just make it harder. Besides, if they are convinced Paul is a traitor then political pressure to help him out would be a bad idea. Anyhow.... I've been thinking on what they said. About with time being able to pull stuff back and forth?"
Dracos pondered focusing on his real form, on visualizing it, on seeing what he could feel and grab and pull from it.
Dracos
Rez eyes Drac. "I'm going to go unilateral on this if it looks like they're going to execute him, your approval or not. And . . . yeesss?"
"Duh....I'm not going to let him get executed. At the same time.... there is what works and what doesn't. Need I remind you we know someone who can walk around invisible and as I recall, has sort of a task of keeping us somewhat alive?"
Dracos focuses on his telepathy.
~Well, for one, there is the obvious communication we have... but beyond that, haven't we been thinking a touch too physically restrictive in our thoughts on what can be brought over?~
Dracos
Rez jumps again and quashes a burst of instinctive terror.
"I . . . er . . . keep forgetting you can do that. And you can remind me, at which point I'll inform you that Lord Kevin knows that as well and she's incarcerated. And how do you mean? Your mind-reading-fu could be handy, I agree, but what else can we bring over?"
Rez ponders, then produces the gauntlet and warbag. "Now there's a thought . . ."
Dracos, on a whim, tries to bring over himself.
Dracos
Dracos shakes his head as he changes, keeping his voice low. "It's a dream after all?"
Dracos
Nathan's eyes widen in surprise.
"That is interesting, although . . ." Nathan eyes the Dracos-in-armour-three-times-his-size, "that can't be comfortable."
There's a slight pause.
"This isn't quite so simple as just a dream," Nathan comments reproachfully, "Ezmereth told us that much . . . and besides which that's the Pax and Cabal mindset. These people and this place are as real as we are, as as I see it."
Dracos releases 'himself', changing back. "Well, it's more complicated than that, for sure, but do you really want to go into existential philosophy?"
Dracos
"Not really. But this world is as real as ours, as far as I could tell from what Ezmereth said . . . not that I entirely understand this. You should know by now that a dream is more than just that."
Rez grins and flexes his hand.
"Anyway, I have an experiment with the warbag," he says, opening the aforementioned up and removing a copper coin, "Liandral was able to hold mundane items here since he had a trick to bring them. I'm wondering if I actively tried to hold some of these things here after dispelling the gauntlet . . . it's something to be tried, anyway."
Rez tries to concentrate on keeping the copper coin here much the same way as the gauntlet, before gradually letting the gauntlet go.
A fascinating hypothesis with a dissapointing result.
Everything in the warbag seems to be linked to the warbag, even when it's removed. Though, you can retain things as long as you keep the gauntlet.
Dracos stretches out a bit, focusing on being as fast as he is used to, trying to draw on only that aspect of himself as he stands up. "No go?"
Dracos
"Nope, no go," Rez hums, "Ezmereth spoke of us forcing objects not of the dream to be here, though . . . well, hey."
Rez gets rid of the gauntlet, tries halfheartedly to get his wallet, then stands up and stretches.
"So, what else do we need to do today?"
Dracos taps his forehead, "I think questioning a few mages...might be a good thing to do. Also...I think we can take in part too. But want to go grab some food until Alec gets back with Bjorn or Bjorn finds us?"
Dracos
"If we're waiting for Bjorn, we'd probably better not leave."
Rez considers for a moment.
"You're the king, go order a pizza or something."
The voice of Bjorn mentally crosses the distance, and touches upon you with the following (irritable) message: What?
Not long after you've concluded your mental conversation with Bjorn (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=38333#38333), you hear footsteps outside the tent.
Alec jogs up to the tent and calls, "Sir Shuker, Lord Bloom! Bjorn requests that you join him at the keep."
"Ah. Fast. He say anything else?" Dracos got up, leading the way towards the keep. "And thanks for giving him the message quickly, Alec."
Dracos
"He wants your help in interrogating the bad loremaster," Alec supplies. "Think nothing of it, Lord Bloom. We Westwinds are fast on our feet!"
Dracos nods. "Good, good. Well, let's make haste."
And putting deeds to words, he does, heading along to the keep and looking for bjorn.
Dracos
Alec's unnerring direction sense leads you somewhere that Nathan recognizes as the execition chamber -- Bjorn is just walking up to the door as you arrive.
Nathan and Phil now join Bjorn in Stuck in the Middle with You (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=38361#38361).
After slinking away from the interrogation scene, Nathan finds himself being followed by Alec.
"Sorry about that, I just don't really feel the need to watch while they take pieces out of Mattias. Despite what he may have done, without him we'd never have retrieved Eske, and the Stormriders would never have made it here."
Rez sighs.
"I just don't want to see it. In any case . . . want to go and get some food?"
"Yeah," Alec says quietly. "But wasn't Mattias the one who made it so that Eske couldn't get back here anyway?"
"Perhaps, but I think I believe what he said about those wards not being his. If his goal was to prevent the stormriders from ever getting to Stormwall, he would have been far better served by not telling us he'd found Eske in the first place . . . I'd think. I have no idea what his agenda is, but while it involved betraying us I don't think it was to the dreadmarch," Rez growls in annoyance as they walk towards the mess hall, "I wish I knew what was going on here!"
"You'd need to consult an oracle to understand everything," Alec says knowingly.
Rez chuckles, glancing at his right hand, "I know an oracle, but she's not within shouting distance . . . unfortunately. Ah well. Let's get some food, then I need to go and speak to Lord Kevin. Anything you need to do?"
"Nope!" he says cheerfully, as you file into the great hall. It seems quieter now with the hall's main bard clapped in irons below....
Rez looks around curiously as they sit down. No bards at all?
None at all. There's no one on the stage at the moment.
But there's food, which Alec is glad for.
Rez is also glad for it. Food!
In any case, when they're done, he goes off to find a servant or someone to inquire as to why nobody else is onstage. They did have other bards and storytellers around, after all . . .
The general concensus is that they're waiting for Master Durant to return from the errand he left to attend.
"Layabout, he, and now the rest of you? The halls are silent out there, for shame . . . surely some of you have a story for our warriors, to raise their spirits before they go to defend Stormwall once more!" Rez rolls his eyes theatrically, "Durant will be back in good time - most probably with a new story to tell. I'll leave now, and drag him back here myself if I have to, but in the meantime make him proud to work with you!"
After a shuffling moment of silence, an old man with a very worn fiddle and a young girl (couldn't be more than eight or nine) clamber up on the stage and start a song to fill the hall with life and noise once more.
No one was willing to speak of it sooner, but you get the distinct impression that everyone's happier now that the revelry's begun again.
Rez nods approvingly, then waves Alec along with him as they leave the hall.
"Next on the agenda for the day, I suppose, I should probably go and see Lord Kevin - if he's available. Then Lord Ekim. Hm."
Rez heads off to try and find Lord Kevin - asking directions, if need be.
The directions lead you back to Lord Kevin's office, once more now apparently open for business. There's no delay, and when they see you, the guards let you in. Kevin is pacing before the huge window that looks out over the Stormrider and keep-defender's campsites, and Lammermore is sitting uneasily in a chair next to Kevin's desk. Both look up at you and Alec when you enter.
"Yes?" Kevin asks, seating himself behind his desk and looking at you coolly.
Nathan bows respectfully.
"Lord Kevin, I wish not to waste your time, but there are a few issues I wished to speak to you of, such as why Lord Markham is no longer Lord of the Stormriders."
"Oh?" he asks, seemingly surprised. "Well ... alright, then." He gestures to a seat. "Please, make yourself comfortable," he says, relaxing a bit.
Lammermore looks on curiously, but says nothing.
"Thanks."
Rez sits down gratefully.
"Well . . ." Rez sighs, "I should probably start from the beginning. You know, of course, of Windkeeper Parthipan. We weren't entirely honest when we left as to the why, because we weren't entirely certain just how it would go down - and we weren't entirely sure of what he'd seen. The Windkeeper saw a stormrider in golden armour speaking to a man in a grey cloak in the snowfields, about how one army must not see the other. This obviously made us suspicious, so we went out to meet up with the Stormriders and investigate this."
Nathan takes a breath before continuing, slightly less rushed.
"Eventually Lord Markham's brother, Tomas, was revealed to be a traitor when he attempted to steal Lord Farwell's torc . . . and it was discovered that the dreadmarch was ahead of Tomas' scouts and had cut us off from Stormwall. He confessed, when caught, and was expelled into the snowfields. After this, Markham continued to demand that we do what Tomas had been suggesting . . . which was for the Stormriders to give up on Stormwall and leave the dreadmarch to you, and to move north and out of the way. He believed the dreadmarch were too many for us to take on. Many of the stormriders, as you can imagine, had objections to this - and Lord Bloom, having retrieved his torc, declared Markham unfit to be king and challenged him to a duel for Lordship of the stormriders."
Nathan pauses a moment longer to let this sink in.
"That was the first thing I wished to speak to you of, Lord Kevin. I realize he offended you and yours," Nathan nods to Lammermore, "at the last planning session, but I wish you to understand that he brought the Stormriders here when they would not have been brought without him. Since then he has lead the stormriders to brilliant victories over immense odds - we had lost but scarce hundreds before arriving here, Lord Kevin, and killed a hundred times that number - and I do not exagerrate. He may not be the most diplomatic of leaders, but the Stormriders follow him because he is damn capable at what he does . . . despite his occasional lapses of tact," Rez smirks, "Which is when someone else usually steps in and corrects him. One of his virtues as a leader is that he does recognise his limitations in that respect, and tends not to be particularly offended when one of us does correct him."
Lammermore mulls this over for a long moment, and then nods. "It ... he...." He can't find any words for a while, and Kevin glances at him. After a moment, he manages, "This explains much. I had ... thought him simply wine-addled."
Kevin rolls his eyes. "The weight of a crown is never insignificant," he opines. "I understand your message, Sir Shuker. I thank you for your candor, and ... wish to apologize for our own, perhaps too-swift judgements."
"Understanding between allies is one of the most important things of all, Lord Kevin, Sir Lammermore," Nathan nods, "As to the second thing I wished to speak of . . . could I borrow one of the lorekeepers who were wounded earlier, if possible? I was thinking of going over to the tower where the lorekeepers were shot and trying to work out where the arrows could have come from. For shots to be placed so accurately, there are very few places they could have come from, I believe. If nothing else it may help to clarify the chain of events."
"Well ... you have my permission," Lord Kevin says slowly. "But ultimately, Radagast is the final authority on lorekeepers here, not I."
Nathan nods again.
"I plan on speaking to him first, but seeing that I wanted to have a look at the relative details I thought I should clear it with you, so that I'm not stepping on anyone's toes. We'll tell you what we can figure out after we've had a look, of course."
"The third thing . . . Lord Kevin, Sir Lammermore . . . was that I was wondering about combined stormrider-keeper tactics or formations like yesterdays was first considered as. I'm wondering if it might be worth our while to have some of your men and some of our men drill together in some basic combined formations - should some more be suggested, I suppose. I'm not a tactician, but if that sort of tactic is going to be used again it may do us well to have some contingents of men with experience working with each other, at the least," Nathan shrugs awkwardly, "I'm not precisely sure what people may have in mind, though."
Lammermore rubs his chin, and looks to Lord Kevin. "This seems a fine enough idea, though I'm not certain how much time we have to train," he finally allows. "If your commanders support it, then I offer my complete approval."
"In that case, Lord Kevin, I'll see if I can get some details hammered out and get back to you."
Nathan stands up and bows respectfully.
"I should probably go and get back to work, there's a fair few things that needed attention today . . . is there anything you wished to ask me?"
"No," Kevin says after a moment. "You answered my greatest question."
Lammermore nods in agreement.
"In that case, I'll be around if I'm needed, Lord Kevin."
Nathan bows again, and moves to leave.
Kevin nods at you, on your way out. Lammermore does manage a bit of a bow, wounded though he is.
Rez trots off in search of Radagast, and once away from Kevin's door he grins at Alec.
"That went surprisingly well."
"Yeah," Alec says, nodding. "But it's okay -- I think everyone knows that you'd be a better leader."
You're really near the lorekeeper's tower, so you reach it before you can reply to Alec. The guards there say, "Radagast is out of the tower at the moment."
Nathan laughs, but cuts off as they reach the guards.
"Do you know where he can be found?"
"He's in a conference with Wardmaster Mattias and Gatemaster Eske," the guard explains.
"Oh, I see . . ." Rez considers for a moment, "Could I speak to Serill Dewer?"
"He's not in," the guard says apologetically. "He said he had to tend to an injured friend, and ran off."
Rez blinks.
"I'm surprised that guy can even move. Thank you for your time, then."
Rez promptly heads off towards Liandral's quarters, and continues the conversation that was interrupted by the guards!
"Nah, I'd make a fairly lousy leader on the whole. I'm too easily swayed from my decisions, which makes me a good advisor, but a lousy leader. Lord Bloom doesn't have that. Besides which, what sane person would want the responsibility anyway?" Rez grins, "At least this way I can do mostly whatever I want."
Alec eyes you appraisingly, and then nods. "I guess that may be true," he says.
"Pretty much. I do things, but I'm not really much of a leader - at least, I don't think so," Rez snickers, and continues walking, "But there are lots of people more qualified than me, and people who actually want the responsibility, so why worry?"
Alec nods. After a while, you track down a servant who can lead you to Liandral's rooms. When you get there, the door is closed.
Rez considers his options:
(A) Pick the lock
(B) Break it down
(C) Knock
And chooses (C) - Knock.
Rez knocks!
"Come in," a somewhat harried voice yells.
Rez steps inside and looks around.
The room is layed out like Phil's was (before he brought back an entire army). Currently, Liandral is laying on a cot against the far wall, and Serril is scribbling through a huge stack of diagrams, tracing out intricate pages of gears, cogs, and flywheels. "Yes?" he asks, not looking up.
"How is he?"
Serril looks up and glances over his shoulder at Liandral, who is staring at the ceiling, and then raises his mangled hand to examine it. Not much of a hand, anymore. Just a wedge of flesh leading up to what would have been the base of his thumb.
"As well as can be expected," Serril says, shaking his head.
Rez winces.
"What the hell happened?"
"The current host body doesn't support his abilities," Serril says, flipping a page over and starting a new diagram. "I'm trying to adjust for that."
"I . . . see . . ." says Rez, who clearly doesn't, "Well, since you're busy I won't bother you right now - but can you tell me who the third lorekeeper on your tower was so I can go and find her? There was you, Parthipan, and who?"
"Astryd," he answers, frowning. "She's still convelescing, though. She got hit with a fireball yesterday, and shot with an arrow today. She needs some genuine time to heal."
"Wait, that was the same person as yesterday? I'm amazed she's still alive, in that case. I'll go and find Gin in a while. While I'm here, though, can you give me a rough idea of the sequence of events? Where you were standing, where you were hit, who got hit first and how quickly it all happened, et cetera."
Serril looks a bit annoyed. "I was a bit numbed by the pain," he says. "The arrows came from the west. We were all hit at the same time. It happened in an instant, as far as we could see."
Rez nods.
"I'm assuming none of you actually saw Dorian fire?"
"Lindsey did," Serril says after a moment of thought, looking up.
Rez nods.
"As would have Paul. I'm going to speak to them after you. Where were you hit?"
Serril pauses in his drawing to indicate his side, just below his rib-cage.
"Alright then. I'll speak to the two of you later on."
Rez nods and steps outside, heading off to try and find Bjorn. If he can't find any clues as to Bjorn's probably whereabouts, then he'll head down to the dungeons.
"Unhelpful prat."
And gripe along the way, of course.
A servant looks at you oddly, and then says he just gave Bjorn directions to Dorian's quarters -- which he then gives to you.
Nathan now moves to Stuck in the Middle with You (http://pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=38648#38648).